questions, questions, questions…
Posted on August 14th, 2010
I saw a YouTube video (below) this afternoon that really struck me. Seeing the words above it “Miss Saigon” played by an “Elementary Band” made me fear the worst about sound, and quality of playing. My fears were unfounded and indeed, in one of my guises as a bandsperson was seriously impressed. How the differences in instrumental education are played out around the world is only too plain to see. I’m not jealous of the fact that an elementary school band can sound like this, nor am I into making comparisons between our system and their system – each country has played out a certain way and this is the end result. In some ways I relish the fact that our students are more relaxed in their learning but by the same token I wish they would get off a preoccupation with guitars, drums and bass. There is nothing wrong with learning orchestral instruments…
This being said, I wonder how these kids have learnt? Where does the imputes come from to learn all these different instruments (as you will see by this video, kids playing Soprano Sax, Eb Clarinet, Baritone Sax, Double Bass and a full range of Percussion inclusive of Piano). I give full credit to the music teacher(s) who trained these kids. They present a wonderful sound and demeanor while on stage.
This band playing is an astonishing sight and sound. It does have some relation to my research as I am trying to see where the students get something out of being part of a band. I will let you listen and judge to your own opinions on what is presented here.
one year in
Posted on July 7th, 2010
I can’t believe this already. This time last year I was commencing my PhD journey having had my application approved in a very quick time frame, met my supervisor, and bright eyed and bushy tailed started some sort of writing.
How the year has passed.
Retrospectively it wasn’t until this year commenced that my writing has kicked up a notch and I’m starting to develop the core of my research, if not my literature review. When I write now it’s exciting, it’s frightening, it’s mind-boggling, it’s inspirational, it’s irrational, it’s soothing and a whole heap of other feelings at once. I feel that once I get going (and some days are much harder than others), I get into a real flow. The research side of things is what excites me the most. The way in which difference people with their ideas and thoughts inter-play across time and geography but somehow I have to connect the dots and splice and dice their ideas into my own words – and words have power.
And yet here I am trying to write my own way so that my topic of research will find its way into the vast world of music education and community music research.
I aim to make a difference with my work. I aim to get this thing done so that I get the satisfaction of completing something REALLY BIG! I aim to excite my colleagues and other researchers with new thoughts. I aim to know my field and expand into sub-areas if I can. I aim for so many things…
Whoever created the words “Piled Higher and Deeper” in reference to a PhD knew what they were talking about. Some days I feel like I am snowed under yet I realise that much of the real work hasn’t started yet. Sometimes I feel like I have given myself too much to read but I am learning to break down reading into smaller, more manageable blocks. I suffer from a condition called Obsessive Article Collecting which is a condition coined by “The Thesis Whisperer”. I took her advice, to an extent and at the moment have been writing more than article collecting. If it wasn’t for resources like these I don’t know what I would do.
And I thank my friends. Yes, I probably rely on social networking sites a little too much for friendly contact but through Facebook and Twitter I have built a network of like minded people from all over the world – you can use Facebook for good instead of evil! Having attended a workshop on procrastination the other day I have gained thoughts and ideas from that as well.
Where I am going with my writing at the moment? I’m trying to build a group of core ideas around my topic and am trying to interlink them. As my supervisor says on a regular basis with my work, how does it relate to my study? Where am I trying to go with it? What is my fundamental research question? How will I go about things? Who has written what? What do I know about whom? I’ll get there in the end but the whole ideal of my body of literature, my topic, ownership over my topic and creating all of this from existing literature – I’m trying to aim a needle into the haystack.
I’ll use this blog to record thoughts as much as I am able. I’m not the most regular post person when it comes to this but it might be interesting to look at how far I have gone by looking back. This is a part of my life where I want to succeed in what I am doing and will work very hard to get it.
Thanks for reading!
what is in my bag? what will be in my bag in five years time?
Posted on April 4th, 2010
These questions were asked by a prominent academic, Dr Amy Cutter-Mackenzie at a recent meeting of the Monash Peninsula chapter of the Monash Educational Research Community (MERC). These questions have been moving around in my mind for the past few weeks since they were asked of my fellow PhD students and myself – so I’ve decided to try to answer them.
For the first part of the question, “what is in my bag?”, this didn’t require much thinking about but I’m not a full-time PhD student (yet) so my bag is my near constant companion as I move around different spheres of my life activities. I currently work as an instrumental teacher in a couple of schools around Melbourne so some items I take to school and when I visit University are the same – read pencil case and laptop (and peripherals to the laptop). Currently a typical day will see me carry:
- A laptop – I like being connected and they are useful machines
- A couple of external hard drives – one keeps all my PhD files and the other is the rest of everything
- The laptop power cable – when my laptop runs out of power there is only one solution to power
- A pencil case – as mentioned and the purpose should be obvious
- Music books – as an instrumental teacher I need these books as much as my students should be bringing them to their lessons, which isn’t always the case. I keep my music books in large plastic folders so they are ready to go in the morning and easy to pack.
- Plastic binder folders – whoever invented these deserves a medal. They are cheap, easy to store, easy to manage, and can be set for different needs. For myself as a self prescribed compulsive filer I won’t leave home without two possible three depending on the day.
- Academic books – I keep a large personal library at home but when I do go to Uni I try to bring as much with me as I can comfortably pack. This depends on what day I am going to Uni and what I intend to do at Uni. They are also useful for reading on the train.
- Food – I need to keep going through the day and I don’t buy things on the run. I don’t anticipate this changing in years to come.
The more difficult part of this question is what I will be putting in my bag in five years time, which I feel is related to the question I ponder to myself, where am I likely to be in five years time thus influencing what is likely to be in my bag? I anticipate finishing my PhD within five years so that will obviously have a bearing on what I will be carrying. I’m not sure that I will still be a teacher, my thinking is to give away the teaching game as a career but the time-frame is loose. Life will possibly dictate when that will be. Personally the researching and writing life does appeal and it will be on topics and research interests related to my PhD. So, based on this, what is likely to be in my bag in five years time?:
- Academic books – my (hope to be expanded) home library is likely to stay at home which means books will travel. In saying this there is also the advent of more affordable and different technologies to consider. The future is still being written and I have considered the prospect that all my books might end up in electronic form on an future version of the iPad – who knows?
- Writing materials – notebooks, pens, pencils, I don’t expect I will be ditching these in a hurry. No one has made a computer that is a good substitute for a notebook where you can doodle ideas.
- My beloved plastic folders – I won’t be giving up these in a hurry. I’m a filer and a hoarder, my files keep my materials very handy.
- A laptop – related to this first listing, who knows where the technological bandwagon might be heading and what it might provide on the way. For the moment I can see that a portable computer (of sorts) will be a much needed device.
- Food for the day – I don’t anticipate this will change either.
I feel these questions where slightly difficult to answer although seeing myself in five years is more difficult than the ‘here’ and ‘now’. I don’t know what kinds of opportunities will appear after I finish my PhD but I always fall back on a standard musician way of looking at life; I’ll just play it all by ear and see what happens. Every day is different.
the working title
Posted on March 11th, 2010
“Middle school students’ engagement in community brass and concert bands”
Such as this is, and I will be expanding this to 100,00 words.
I’m now back into things, although not without some ‘life’ hiccups just to interrupt proceedings. Unfortunate as these are I am still focused on the tasks ahead. Holiday work didn’t go as planned and I lost a bit of focus and, with the help of my supervisor, have re-organised tasks in preparation for confirmation at the end of this year or next year.
The above is only a working title. I understand that as I go through the PhD process many things will change including the questions that I am asking and the way I even go about the research. Literature is everything and although, at times, I feel as if I have too much to get through, there will always be more to find.
So at the moment I am working on the first part of defining my topic, and why my study is needed (and I’m not going into that fundamental question right at this moment). Still, the research question is interesting to me and I feel that I will make a difference after this whole thing is finished. Suffice to say I have yet to go through the stage of “why did I start this thing?”.
Out there in PhD land takes me up a thought provoking road, and I hope that the thinking pans out to something different on each turn.
six months in
Posted on December 9th, 2009
It’s now December, six months in from when I started the PhD in July, and (most probably) another five years until I finish. It has been an interesting academic road so far. For myself I have been buoyed by my supervisor’s comments regarding the work that I have done, but, I am not resting on these comments. My writing is still far from academically perfect however it is getting better. The referencing can be tightened up…
Resource collection and collating is ongoing as I work through separate topics and need extension on what I have already collected. All this will contribute to the Literature Review which will serve as the basis for introducing the new area of research that I will be covering – this will be done in about six months time. I’m thinking of the areas that I need to explore next. Obviously motivation of students is a major area of focus as is the inclusive “community” basis of participation in brass and concert bands. Topics have expanded to include psychology areas and other factors determining the learning of music.
In terms of research focus I have made the decision to bring my website (which surrounds “the blog”) into more of an overall research area so that all pages are focused on my research question. I realize this will be a big job to do over the holidays but since the basic structure of the website is easy to manage it shouldn’t be to hard to do.
Aside from this I can safely say that I am enjoying the research process, the first six months hasn’t daunted me that much, and I feel I am on the right track with this PhD.
There will be more to follow…
…searching the depths
Posted on September 22nd, 2009
If I were to describe myself in terms of a researcher I would say that I enjoy the research process, in that I am beginning to put the puzzle together. And the PhD with regards to the literature review is very much like a puzzle. What started off as a broad topic has suddenly become a number of small topics, all interlinked, but leading to the same point. I have collected most of the side pieces of the puzzle (see my Research page if you don’t believe me!), and am now putting together the middle pieces with their myriads of colours and patterns – to put the project in a metaphor.
Needless to say that Google is my friend, and by using more focused search patterns through Google and Google Scholar I have found that even the obscure is available – to a certain extent. Case in point would be one of the more recent references I have found:
Goldman, H., & Lowis, M. J. (2007). An Investigation into the Respective Influences of Nature and Nurture on Musical Ability. Korean Journal of Thinking and Problem Solving, 17(2), 43-56.
…as a side point it just goes to show there is a journal for just about every field of human endeavor you could possibly think of!
This particular article is obviously useful as the sub-topic I am looking at at the moment is on nature/nurture with regards to music learning with emphasis on motivation of students to learn music – me being me thought I had hit the jackpot finding this article however finding it and getting it are two different matters altogether.
To cut the story short, normally I would have used my universities very extensive database of journal links and eventually downloaded them. With this one, after initially finding that the home site it was based on was written in Korean and therefore I couldn’t find an obvious way to download it, I went to The British Library website where I had to buy the article and download it – it’s just one of the things you have to do sometimes.
Still, it is just one piece of a very extensive puzzle which is gradually coming together, even at this early stage. Focusing the finding of articles is a skill I have to practice, as with the writing up of content, which is a process I also enjoy. I hope to post a little more regularly on PhD progress.
questions to ponder
Posted on August 16th, 2009
I’ve now been officially enrolled in my PhD program for a month now, and have started framing (with the help of my supervisior), the shape of my research question. But aside from this process of framing questions, I have been thinking about some other questions to ask of my resources which will serve as a “questioning framework”. These being:
- What do I want to know about whom?
- What do I know? And,
- Where is the key?
I think, when I am working on article reviews, which help in synthesising my literature review, that by working under the framework of these three questions it will help me when seeking and teasing out themes and ideas within my readings.
So far I feel I am taking academic “baby-steps” in that my work output has been small, but in balance I have been collecting resources for more than a year in preparation. The work output will obviously be increasing in the future.
In terms of my own research I think that I may be onto something. For finding a gap in the literature on the subject of learning in community brass and concert bands by middle-school aged students (or something to that effect) has not been as hard as I expected however that is not to say that someone has tweaked onto this question. In fact after my last meeting with my supervisior, there are probably about three PhD topics buried within my questioning. But I think one PhD with my original question will be enough.
The process of answering my question will be very interesting, and putting the research together with my (anticipated) data results will hopefully answer the questions even further – and probably lead to new questions. Which might be answered later in further work. I’m looking forward to this process and applying the above questions to my work.
I’ve started
Posted on July 27th, 2009
…and I can’t believe it! Although I still have to get some things organised in my life like getting the total health/study/work/life balance right. Having allocated two days to work a week it has been a little hard to get started. But my supervisor has given my some tasks for the month including plenty of book reading and note-taking. Currently I’m reading “Doctorates Downunder” (see reference below) which is a book designed for doctoral students in Australia and New Zealand. However, my Endnote databases are working (and growing), I’ve caught myself thinking odd questions about community bands and learning, and my head is operating in a new direction – in a totally literal sense of course!
I mentioned my Endnote databases (and what a wonderful piece of software it is). I’ve now separated my primary and secondary sources and established a database for each. On this website I’ve made a significant upgrade to my Research Page to reflect the separating of sources. While I still have lots of references to plow through, the separating of the database will make things easier to manage. Last week I also bought myself some new software called “Notebook” for the Macintosh which should prove, in time to be a useful research tool.
Anyway, I will endeavor to keep myself updated and use this blog to highlight bit more of what I’m up to.
Reference:
Denholm, C. J., & Evans, T. D. (2006). Doctorates downunder : keys to successful doctoral study in Australia and New Zealand. Camberwell, Vic.: ACER Press.
the next life journey starts…
Posted on July 12th, 2009
I was going to make the next blog post much like the previous two – a sort of mini essay on some aspect of my current reading. But since I’m only part of the way through the book Thought and Language by Lev Sevenovich Vygotsky (or Vygotskiï) it wouldn’t make sense to write something until I have finished the book or I’m a good way through it. But I am finding this book, and some extension articles I’ve found, very interesting…
The real reason I’m writing to day is to just say that my academic journey is about to start again. I have received a place at Monash Universtiy to commence a PhD in Music Education where I will be looking at the ways school-aged students learn while participating in community bands and school ensembles, and how one style of learning can benefit the other – or something to this effect.
This topic is of interest to me as it was sparked by some aspects I touched on in my last Masters project where I wrote up the development of a community training band. Since I finished this paper I have been building resources in the hope that I would be able to continue further research in this area. I’m also hoping through my research that there might be a way where community music can be used as some kind of extension activity for school music students.
I’m under no illusion about the amount of work that has to be done. But my reasoning is that while my brain is active and wanting activity, and while I have the time then why not? I am fairly sure that I will enjoy the research side of things and working to bring various parts of research together. So I’ve decided to undertake this “journey” to achieve another life goal which I hope will end up making a difference.
social music and school music
Posted on July 2nd, 2009
“…Both rural and urban community life can be enriched and bettered measurably by setting up and maintaining a variety of musical activities. And the school music program should find much of its vitality in sustaining them. Musical organizations that exist largely for their own sakes or for general recreative purposes, such as choirs, orchestras, small ensembles, music clubs, study groups, groups active in promoting concert courses, and the like, can serve a valuable social purpose. One of the principal aims of the music program should be to further such organizations by interesting the pupils in them.” (Mursell, 1936, p. 11)1
For those of us who work in the music profession the above statement by James L. Mursell is probably nothing new, nor is is that surprising. Given the context in which Mursell was writing, in 1930′s America where people were actively working on where the public school music program should be headed, the above statement can be seen as bold and forward thinking. Mursell was not alone in this kind of thinking. There is a body of writing from this time in America (and in further decades) which talk about the role a school music teacher could/should play in the local community by setting up musical activities, and also the role community music can play in the lives of school musicians afterthey leave school (Dykema, 1934; Pitts, 1944; Richter, 1938; Williamson, 1931; Wilson, 1935).
I’m not totally discounting the view of Mursell (and others) that music teachers should not involve themselves in community music activities. However, in the decades in which the mentioned writers were living, in many towns and cities the only trained musicians were those who were from the teaching profession. In these times people of many different backgrounds are community music facilitators and leaders and indeed, this mix of backgrounds brings greater variety and experience to community music activities. As the forward to a 2005 Victorian Health study on the health benefits of community arts states: “The strength of the community arts process is its ability to bring diverse people together around a common project and sense of purpose.” (VicHealth, 2005).
Mursell was really trying to highlight the social side of music making through his chapter, and from this it can be acknowledged that it is this social side that can influence learning within groups through the exchange of ideas and experience. A recent study from Australia titled Sound Links: Community Music in Australia, through various case studies also acknowledges the social and educational side of music making in groups (Bartleet, B.-L., Dunbar-Hall, P., Letts, R., & Schippers, H, 2009)2. Again this is notwithstanding the role of experienced facilitators and leaders in community music making.
The body of writing dealing with the social side of school and community music making, the role of music teachers and community music leaders, and the nature of learning in groups is large, and growing as more researchers take an active role in writing about community music – and this amount of literature is obviously too large for me to mention here (please see my research page for a list of resources I have collected on these and other topics related to my (proposed) research). I find these writings fascinating because of the parallels with today (one would hope that things have changed) (and I sincerely hope I have made sense in my own writings!). By looking back we can see that the educators of times past clearly had views that would not be incompatible with today’s thinking, but we live in a different society were educational priorities are constantly changing. Perhaps it is time to start bringing more schools and students back into the community and let them see the benefits of what community arts has to offer.
footnotes:
1) For a link to download the book The Thirty-Fifth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education: Part II: Music Education where the chapter by James Mursell appears, please click here. (This book was found through a Google search).
2) For a link to download the Sound Links: Community Music in Australia report, please click here.
references:
Bartleet, B.-L., Dunbar-Hall, P., Letts, R., & Schippers, H. (2009). Sound Links: Community Music in Australia. Brisbane, Qld.: Griffith University, Queensland Conservatorium.
Dykema, P. W. (1934). Music in Community Life. Music Supervisors’ Journal, 20(4), 34-35, 73-74.
Mursell, J. L. (1936). Principles of Music Education. In G. M. Whipple (Ed.), The Thirty-Fifth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education: Part II: Music Education (pp. 3-16). Bloomington, Illinois: Public School Publishing Company.
Pitts, L. B. (1944). Widening Horizons for Music Education. Music Educators Journal, 30(4), 17-55.
Richter, A. (1938). Music and the Forgotten Pupil. Music Educators Journal, 25(2), 19-22.
VicHealth. (2005). Creative Connections: Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing through Community Arts Participation. Resource Centre Retrieved May 11th, 2009, from http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/en/Resource-Centre/Publications-and-Resources/Mental-health-and-wellbeing/Social-connection/Creative-Connections.aspx
Williamson, J. F. (1931). A Challenge. Music Supervisors’ journal, 18(2), 33-39.
Wilson, E. M. (1935). Why School Music Does Not “Carry Over”. Music Educators Journal, 22(2), 31.
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